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Ubergridder

Ubergridder, one of the few games I had yet to review from the Indie Games Winter Uprising, has been on my list of games to check out for quite some time. What I got surprised me: a modern take on Qix that replaces the freeform nature of that game with a defined grid. What on papers sounds like a regressive step actually ends up being pretty interesting thanks to a content update that added new elements to the game, and because of additions like the ability to engage a power-up that stops pursuers, and the fact that the enemies actively chase you rather than simply bounce around randomly. Unlike in Qix where you were pretty restricted in where you could go in previously traveled areas, here you can re-travel the grid much more freely which opens up the game to new strategies as well. This game will not win awards for the deepest game ever conceived, but I found its gameplay compelling as it merged action and puzzle genres, with just the right mix of Pac Man thrown in (which, after all, is another game where the goal is to ultimately traverse an entire grid). The game looks gorgeous, and costs only 80 Microsoft Points.